Through roughly five years and the more than 750 Tanner Friedman blogs that Matt and I have written during that time, it has always been interesting to us, in reviewing analytics, that our posts on media personalities – particularly those in radio – continually generate the most attention. Perhaps it is not surprising at all, when you consider how much time we each spend with these men and women behind the microphone, albeit through the airwaves, yet in the most intimate of all mediums.
Through our respective work in print and broadcast journalism prior to our PR days, our firm’s founders have been fortunate to work and interact with many, many talented (even “Hall of Fame”) broadcasters as colleagues, associates and, in many cases, friends. That is why it was so rewarding, in recent days, to reconnect over lunch with Detroit radio legend Lynne Woodison. Though we email often and lunch from time to time, we had fallen out of touch in recent months; I soon found out why.
Late last year, her son Colin was in a horrific car crash in Nashville, where he resides. In the hospital for many weeks with a broken pelvis among the physical trauma he experienced, he next bore many more weeks of rehab where he very gradually progressed from hospital bed to wheelchair to cane to, only very recently, walking again on his own en route to a full recovery. With him throughout the ordeal was his mother.
Lynne, I had learned, had relocated to Nashville for some time in order to do what she could to nurse Colin back to health along with helping to keep his successful business venture, CrackedMacScreen.com running. Anchored on the east cost in Washington, D.C., by Colin’s brother and co-founder Trevor, the company has continued to grow in clients and revenue, counting among its devotees A-List musicians and Obama-administration officials who appreciate the efficiencies and security afforded by the customer service- focused Mac screen repair service.
Back in Detroit in recent days with the health of her son assured, Lynne is weighing next steps in her storied career. Might that include radio? Visit her Facebook page and you will experience scores of fans and devotees urging her return. In my opinion, Clear Channel’s new rocker, 106.7 “The D” (in need of live Detroit talent) should have her on speed dial. And what about WDET or “The River”? Just think of the renewed interest her presence would bring to those properties. To say nothing of WJR, which already uses Lynne’s voice on their station identifiers, bringing back a music show (something they dabbled with in a recent year) to add a new programming wrinkle.
For Woodison, her family healthy and priorities always in order, anything is possible in 2012.